Control a group of lamps?

[JLOB]

We used Alexa through the UDI portal for our ISY 994 I Pro. I have a guest room with two bed lamps and two dresser lamps.  The dresser lamps share an Insteon dimmer, and the bed lamps each have their own.  Each device in the room can be individually controlled to any bright or dim level by telling Alexa to turn on (light) to x%.  Is it possible to group these devices together such that the entire room could be controlled at once?  I set up a scene which works, but only for on/off.  I’d like to be able to vary the intensity of the light at will.

Thanks for any input you might provide.

JLOB

ISY 994i Pro

UD994 v.5.0.16C (UI and Firmware)

A10/X10 for Insteon

Portal Integration  UDI (21075)

[MrBill]

it can be done...  here's almost what you asked for:

the change you'll need is in the alexa.on program you'll need to repeat each of the devices dim levels.  The problem is scene's can't be dimmed, they can contain members preset to a certain level for that scene but they weren't designed for setting the scene itself to a certain level.

I actually have a group for 3 lamps that I did with individual controls like in the linked post (1 variable and 3 programs for each lamp).  And then made a "group" program to control the individual lamps:

Alexa.on - [ID 00A1][Parent 00A4]

If
        $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group > 0
    And $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group <= 100
 
Then
        $Dim.Lamp1  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        Wait  1 second
        $Dim.Lamp2  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        Wait  1 second
        $Dim.Lamp3  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group  = -1
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

Alexa.off - [ID 00A3][Parent 00A4]

If
        $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group is 0
 
Then
        $Dim.Lamp3  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        Wait  1 second
        $Dim.Lamp2  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        Wait  1 second
        $Dim.Lamp1  = $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group
        $Dim.Lamp1_2_3.group  = -1
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

Basically if you use the group spoken to set a level  for the group, these two programs set the variable for each lamp with a wait between each.

The group variable always gets returned to -1 as soon as it's used so that anything you tell alexa registers as a change. 

You could also just do one scene for the group and in the alexa.on program, set each fixture to the level.

[JLOB]

Thanks.  I’m not at all certain that I fully understand how Alexa is going to pass the x% to the ISY for processing, but I’ll code on, in the belief that all will be revealed when my lights work as hoped.

JLOB

[MrBill]

4 hours ago, JLOB said:

Thanks.  I’m not at all certain that I fully understand how Alexa is going to pass the x% to the ISY for processing, but I’ll code on, in the belief that all will be revealed when my lights work as hoped.

 

JLOB

 

The magic happens in the portal.  Instead of mapping Alexa to a device she's instead mapped to update the state variable.

[apostolakisl]

While you can't turn a scene on directly to a level, you can brighten or dim a scene.  Not 100% sure if Alexa accepts that command (ie "dim scene xyz") but you certainly can do it from a scene controller such as a switchlinc or ISY.  The problem of course is that all the devices in a scene get their own custom brightness level when the scene is turned on.  I suppose if you had 2 devices in a scene with 1 device set to be 50% on and the other set to be 60% when you turn the scene "on", then you might think that turning the scene "on" to 50% would mean on light at 25% and the other at 30%.  But, this gets a bit ambiguous.

You might consider creating 2 or more scenes at various dimmed levels.  Then name the scenes something like "bedroom lamps 50 percent" and "bedroom lamps".  While it would seem as though saying "Bedroom lamps 50 percent" is telling the scene "Bedroom lamps" to only ramp up to 50%, it is actually a completely different scene.

[asbril]

My Alexa Good Night routine sets 1 light to 50 % and another to 0 % .

[slimypizza]

My Alexa goodnight routine says good night to each family member, waits 10 secs and turns the downstairs lights off, turns on the upstairs master bedroom light to 60%, starts the bedroom ceiling fan, and sets the downstairs and upstairs thermostats (Honeywell) to their bedtime temperatures.

[larryllix]

My
    "Alexa. Turn on security lights!", 

turns all outdoor lights on, turns off all indoor lighting it can find, including WiFi bulbs,  RGBWW strips and Insteon lighting.

   "Alexa. Turn off security lights!"

restores all lighting back to it's original scenes and levels.